At present, fibre optic adapter dust caps are mainly used to prevent dust from entering the fibre optic adapter. In use, the dust cap is inserted into one port (the user end) of the fibre optic adapter, and a fibre optic connector is inserted into the other port (the fibre jumper end), of the fibre optic adapter.
In the prior art, the two main technical solutions for a dust cap are as follows: (1) in an intelligent fibre optic management system, the dust cap of the fibre optic adapter is made of transparent material, therefore, the operator may see the operational status of the indicator lamp provided in the bottom section of the fibre optic adapter through the dust cap; (2) in a standard fibre optic adapter, the fibre optic adapter is made of black (opaque) or dark (semi-transparent) material, therefore, laser from the optical fibre connector at the fibre jumper end of the optical fibre adapter cannot penetrate the user end of the optical fibre adapter, thus preventing operator eye injuries.
In respect of the prior art, if the dust cap is made of transparent material, the operator can see the operational status of the indicator lamp provided in the bottom section of the optical fibre adapter, but, when a dust cap of transparent material is used, the laser from the fibre jumper at the other end of the optical fibre adapter may penetrate through the dust cap, exiting the external end face of the dust cap, therefore the use of dust caps of transparent material cannot prevent penetration of the laser from the other end of the optical fibre adapter, and operator eye injuries can easily occur. If the dust cap is made of black or dark coloured material, it can block the laser transmitted from the other end of the optical fibre adapter, but the operator cannot see the operational status of the indicator lamp.
Furthermore, in the prior art, even if the dust cap is made of the transparent material, due to the light emitted from the indicator lamp being scattered in all directions, under bright sunlight outdoors, the operator cannot clearly or easily see the operational status of the indicator lamp.